Woman Describes Alleged Sexual Assault In Doctor's Office

MIDDLETOWN — A woman known to jurors only as "K.M." sniffled on Tuesday as she demonstrated the way Dr. Tory Westbrook touched her when he gave her a breast exam two years ago.

She was the second patient to testify against the doctor, saying he sexually assaulted her in an exam room at the Community Health Center in Clinton.

Westbrook is charged with five counts of second-degree sexual assault and four counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. Tuesday was the second day of testimony in Superior Court.

Prosecutor Brenda Han asked the woman about her visit to Westbrook's office in 2011. The woman testified that Westbrook asked her how many sex partners she had in her life, and also if she was involved "in any bizarre sexual acts."

He "quickly" open her gown and began feeling one of her breasts, then both at the same time, "in a caressing, loving kind of way," she testified.

He touched parts of her breast that doctors had never touched before, she said, twisting and pinching her. The rubbing went on for up to two minutes, she said. Most of the time, he didn't say anything.

"It felt like it went on way too long," she said.

She sniffled as she demonstrated for the jury how Westbrook touched her, using a rubbery model of a human breast.

Westbrook commented on her tan and told her to stand up so he could examine her back, she testified, then rubbed her back, stopping at her buttocks.

A medical assistant was in the room during much of the exam, working on a computer, the woman testified. The employee left the room before the pelvic exam began, the woman testified.

Then, Westbrook twice put what she called a clamp in her. "He opened it wide and I felt pain," she said. "It was awkward that there was something in there and it was just hurting me."

He also repeatedly put his fingers in her, she said.

"He was touching me in a way a lover would touch somebody," she testified.

Earlier, an expert witness for the state, Dr. Christopher Diamond, testified about the proper way to do breast and pelvic exams. He, too, used the model, which was sitting on the edge of the jury box, to demonstrate for the jury. He showed them the proper way to do a breast exam, placing two fingers on the fake breast and pressing down in straight lines.

Later, he illustrated pelvic exams by motioning with his hands while standing next to a large diagram of a vagina.

"We have to make sure we don't mimic more personal types of contact," he said.

Diamond said doctors should strive to explain what they are doing as they proceed with an exam, and to leave body parts that are not being examined covered.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Norman Pattis, Diamond was unable to cite medical literature that specifically says it is improper for a doctor to cup his hand over a woman's breast during an exam.

Pattis let the jury know through his questions that there was a "potential lawsuit" against Diamond for breaching his contract with the Community Health Clinic, where he, like Westbrook, used to practice.